Last year, I took a trip to Costa Rica that included a canopy tour and a suspension bridge tour. I was excited for these experiences because I had just gotten a new phone a couple of weeks before my departure date, so I figured I would get a lot of great shots to post on social media. What I DIDN’T realize is that I would be high off the ground (REALLY, REALLY HIGH), and therefore scared to drop my non-insured, brand new phone. So, my phone stayed in my pocket for much of the tours…

It’s funny because I thought I had planned these trips to perfection. I had a couple of portable chargers with me (which I had charged overnight), I’d uploaded all the files on my phone to the cloud to make space for new images (and even turned on the setting that moves photos from your phone to the cloud when you’re on Wi-Fi!), and took a picture of my passport and hotel information in case of emergencies.

What I wish I’d done, though, is bought a phone case with an armband. Maybe even a waterproof one, since it tends to get a little wet in Costa Rica, and I could’ve used it once back on the beach. This way, even if my phone slipped from my hand because of all the trembling, it wouldn’t suffer a 1,000+ foot drop into the jungle and be lost forever.

Thankfully, I did manage to get a couple of shots when I wasn’t holding on to dear life.